Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Assistant Minister for Social Services, Senator Fifield. Can the minister provide an update to the Senate on the operation of the four trial sites of the National Disability Insurance Scheme?

Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Colleagues may be aware that late last year I released the key elements of the first quarter results of the NDIS trial sites, which found that planned completions were taking longer than expected, with about 921 people in the scheme—around half the target number. The first quarter results also found that package costs were running at $46,290, 30 per cent higher than the modelled average costs of $34,969.

Today, in the interests of transparency, with my colleagues on the ministerial COAG disability reform council, we are releasing the second-quarter results, which show, firstly, that average package costs have fallen from the first-quarter figures down to $40,466. While this trend is positive, I should inform the Senate that these figures remain 15 per cent above the budgeted average cost. Planned completions are now at 2,586, which is half the target for this stage of 4,340. Secondly, the report indicates that it is likely that the budget by the previous government for the trial sites underestimated the cost to the tune of nearly $400 million and this was due to errors in the bilateral agreements negotiated by the previous government. The difference between the expected annual cost in 2013-14 to 2015-16 and the actuarial baseline model is $392.1 million, to be precise. Those bilateral agreements negotiated by the previous government provide that the Commonwealth is liable for all cost overruns. Errors of this sort are far more likely when a political timetable to achieve launch prior to an election is pursued, rather than the more prudent timetable recommended by the Productivity Commission.

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister inform the Senate of the implications of these figures and the government's response to them?

Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is not just an issue for the Commonwealth. The NDIS is a shared venture of all Australian governments. That is why, at the last COAG meeting on 13 December, first ministers—state and federal, Liberal and Labor—asked disability ministers to report back in March 2014 on progress with the trials, including options to improve the implementation of the scheme and ensure that it operates on insurance principles to deliver for people with disability in a fiscally sustainable way. At the same COAG meeting, first ministers decided to describe the launch sites as 'trial sites'. This decision was taken to emphasise the need to carefully study and learn the lessons from the trial sites, as was the intention of the Productivity Commission. All governments, I know, share with the Australian government the intention to learn those lessons to make sure that they are implemented before full rollout.

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Can the minister inform the Senate of the government's approach to the rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme?

Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The coalition are committed to delivering the NDIS in full. The priority of the government is to ensure that the scheme is as effective and efficient as it can be, and that is to ensure that the support gets to the people who need it. We are determined to ensure that the NDIS is here to stay and that its foundations are strong and financially sustainable. It is important that we ensure that Australians with disability are not left wondering whether a reform of this magnitude is able to stand the test of time. We need to give them certainty that the services provided to them under the NDIS are here to stay. That is what everything this government does in relation to the NDIS is about. I hope that those opposite will participate in the parliamentary NDIS committee in the way it was intended and put partisanship aside to help identify issues, to help identify solutions and to see that the NDIS is the best that it can be. (Time expired)